


Something of a Miracle

by KaytiKazoo



Series: 2020 Prompts [30]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Secret Relationship, The Framework Universe (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:06:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27623144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytiKazoo/pseuds/KaytiKazoo
Summary: Leopold Fitz has a secret, named Lance Hunter, and Madam Hydra doesn't like that.
Relationships: Framework Leo Fitz/Framework Lance Hunter, Leo Fitz/Lance Hunter
Series: 2020 Prompts [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985246
Comments: 10
Kudos: 14





	Something of a Miracle

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt by Anonymous on [my tumblr.](http://kaytikazoo.tumblr.com)

Something magical happened the second the Doctor took his tie off.  In the safety of his rooms, he took off his carefully pristine tie, and the Doctor became Leopold right in front of Hunter’s eyes.

Hunter had been waiting for an hour, but despite being a bastard about punctuality, Leopold always came home late.  He stepped into the room, and closed the door behind him with a decisive click, and before he even took off his shoes or set down his briefcase, he took off the tie first. 

“Long day?” Hunter asked, flipping the page in the magazine he’d been perusing.

“ If I have to hear my father talk about stocks one more time this week, I might lose it,” Leopold said.

Hunter closed the  magazine and set it on the table. 

“ And what does  Madam Mistress say about stocks ?”

“You know you’re not supposed to talk about her like that.”

“ Considering she puts her hands on and kisses my boyfriend in public, I think I earned the right to disrespect her a little in private.”

“We’ve talked about this,” Leopold said. 

“ I know. It’s necessary to keep up the appearance that you’re this straight-laced, obedient heterosexual, but I’m not strong enough to pretend like it doesn’t bother me.  I would love to be the one on your arm in public, because I can protect you there. I can’t do shit from these rooms, hidden away like some  ugly step-child you didn’t want.”

Leopold kicked off his shoes, left his jacket on the hook by the door, and  circled around the couch until he was at Hunter’s side. He nudged Hunter sitting straighter and then welcomed himself into Hunter’s lap.

“ I don’t want Ophelia’s life. I don’t want to be the head of Hydra or ruler of the world. I just want to be by your side, Leopold, the way I always have.”

Hunter had expressed these desires before but it wasn’t like Leopold could just come out and say to the world,  _ I’m queer, this is my boyfriend who I’m incredibly in love with. _ No, they had to stay hidden, had to stay secret. The best part of his day was coming home to Hunter’s  gentle hands after a day of hard work and his father’s constant and reliable  disappointment in him.

Hunter reminded him of his mum, her gentle smile and easy laugh, the way she listened and cared about Leopold’s ideas.

“You know I’d have you out there with me if I could, but the second I put a toe out of line, all of this goes away.”

He gestured around them in a broad arc to  capture the nice apartment and the life they had, the life Leopold had, the fact that Hunter was still  alive at all.

“I know,” Hunter said,  unbuttoning Leopold’s suit jacket first and pushing it off his shoulders. He loved Leopold in a suit, but Leopold without any clothes was vastly superior, and luckily for him, Leopold never had any objections. 

Something magical happened when  Hunter took off his clothes, too. He hoisted Leopold into the air, arms supporting him while his legs wrapped around Hunter to keep him steady, and carried him into their bedroom. He lay Leopold out, and  peeled the rest of his suit off until he was laid bare on the bedspread.  Completely naked, vulnerable and open, Leopold became Leo, and Hunter became Lance, the only place they allowed those names. 

“Leo,” Lance said, kissing bared skin with sweet reverence. “Tell me what you want.”

“ I want  _ you _ , Lance,”  Leo muttered, hands running over Lance’s back and sides, unable  to rest until he’d check him all over again. “I want you to take control.”

“Gladly.”

Somewhere else, Madam Hydra sat at her desk when  one of her agents tapped on her door nervously.

“What is it?”

“You wanted a report on the Doctor’s activities,” the agent said. “ Lance Hunter has been seen near his apartment, exiting and entering with what seems to be a key of his own. One of our investigators  even view d Doctor Fitz and Lance Hunter engaging in sexual activities.”

“I see. And how did they obtain  this information?”

“By looking through an open window, Madam.”

“Not even through a recording from inside the apartment?”

“No, ma’am. ”

“Very well. Thank you. Leave the report.”

The agent set a file on Madam Hydra's desk and left. She looked through the photos of Lance Hunter entering the apartment, the same apartment Leopold entered a few photos later, the shots through an open window of Leopold in Lance Hunter’s lap, head through back in ecstasy, hair a mess from his lover’s hands.

There was even a transcript of some of their captured conversation.

“ —a little  house on the beach, just you and me. You’d never had to put on that tie, close yourself off, touch Madam Mistress again,”  Lance Hunter said.

“The dream. Someday, we’ll go,” Leopold replied.

“What do you want in our dream house?”

“As long as you’re there, that’s my dream.”

“What a softie,”  Lance Hunter said, and she curled her hand in the paper, making it crinkle and rip. Even without hearing it, without hearing their inflections, Madam Hydra knew that they weren’t just sleeping together; they were in love.

That just wouldn’t do.

The next day, the Doctor was called to  Madam Hydra’s office. He wasn’t due  to her office until the afternoon for his project update, so being called early was odd. He straightened his tie and fixed  his hair , and stepped into Madam Hydra’s office confidently. She was sat at her desk, reviewing a file in front of her with a stern face.

“Come in, Doctor.”

“Have I done something wrong, Madam?”

“Please shut the door.”

He would take that as a yes, then. Luckily, his father didn’t seem present for this conversation.

“Leopold, would you care to explain this?”

She pushed the file in front of her towards him, and he drew closer. On top of some paperwork, there was a few photos of himself and then some of Hunter.  But the one on top stalled Leopold in  his tracks. He was cradled against Hunter’s chest in their bed,  naked on top of their bedspread, Hunter’s eyes closed with a sleepy, come-drunk smile.

“You’ve had me watched?” he asked , voice sharp. 

“ You’ve been having  an affair with a security guard. He’s not even  an agent, or someone with any power. He monitors the front desk.”

“Don’t talk about him like he’s nothing.”

“He is  _ nothing _ .”

Leopold shook his head at her , trying to keep his temper in check. It wouldn’t do any good losing it at Ophelia. She might talk to Alistair if Leopold got too out of line, and he really didn’t need Alistair knowing about Hunter.

“What is this about?” Leopold asked. “Why now?”

“End it,” she said evenly. 

“What?”

“We are supposed to be a team,  a united front, holding  the organization up in the world. We can’t do that if you’re screwing some nobody from the first floor.”

He didn’t argue that he wasn’t just screwing Hunter and he  certainly wasn’t a nobody, because that would make things  _ worse _ , but he wanted to. 

“I don’t want you  seeing him. If you do not end it yourself, he will be removed from the equation and sent to the fifth floor for reconditioning.”

“You can’t –“ he started to argue.

“You’ll find that I can,” she said, cutting him off. “Remember that you have your position at my discretion, and I can easily take away everything you care about. Either you get rid of him, or I will, and you’ll find it’s much less pleasant when I do it. Do we have an understanding, Leopold?”

He was quiet, seething in his spot, before nodding.

“Tell me.”

“I understand, Madam Hydra.”

He went home in a sour mood, and found Hunter in the kitchen, swaying to the beat of the radio, making dinner.  Leopold stood in the doorway, watching him, the way he moved, the swing of his hips, the off-key way he sang along. He’d never felt like this for someone, too isolated thanks to his father . 

He closed the door behind him.

“Leopold, is that you, love?” Hunter called, not bothering to look over his shoulder. If Leopold wanted to hurt Hunter, it would be too easy. If someone came in to hurt him, Ophelia or his father or someone from reconditioning, they could snap him up without him having a chance to fight back and escape. He’d have to be better about that. Leopold wouldn’t be around to protect him.

“You have terrible instincts,” Leopold answered.

“You have a very specific way of opening the front door. I knew it was you.”

“Good.”

Hunter turned and smiled at him, a radiant smile that faltered as he looked Leopold over.

“Long day?” he asked gently.

“Yeah. Uhh. I had to do some thinking today.”

“Your massive brain couldn’t handle a little thought?” Hunter playfully teased.

“I had to make a pretty massive decision, and I – you're not going to like it.”

“What do you mean?”

Leopold took off his tie, and set it on the table by the door without answering. He couldn’t have this conversation dressed up like the Doctor, this heartless scientist who never would have fallen for Hunter in the first place. He had been so stupid to want something for himself when everything had to be about Hydra and the benefit of the organization.

“What does that mean, Leopold?”

“Ophelia knows about us,” Leopold answered and gripped the back of the couch. He couldn’t say what  needed to come next.

“And she was perfectly accepting, and we can stop hiding?” Hunter asked hopefully.

“No. She wants me to end it.”

Hunter took a sharp breath and put his spoon down.

“No,” he said firmly.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t? Don’t let her break us up? Don’t let someone else dictate our relationship? Don’t fight for you?”

“Lance, we can’t disobey her. She’s the head of Hydra.” 

“I don’t give a shit about that, Leopold. What I care about is you, and me, and this life I thought we were building together. But Madam Mistress says no, so you’re ready to jump out the window.”

“I don’t want to do this, either, but –”

“There shouldn’t be a but, Leopold.”

“It’s not that easy, Hunter.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not. If I don’t end this, if I don’t stop seeing you, she will hurt you. Or worse, she’ll make  _ me  _ do it.”

“I’m not afraid of her.”

“ _ I am _ .”

Hunter crossed to Leopold and kissed him hard, and Leopold held on with a whimper. This could be the last time they kissed, the last time Leopold touched his arms, his chest, his waist. He slipped his tongue past Leopold’s lips, making a desperate noise of his own.

Leopold pulled at his shirt, wanting to get Hunter naked if they’d never see each other again. He wanted to lose himself in Hunter and never resurface. Luckily, Hunter seemed more than happy to comply for once. They didn’t make it into the bedroom, Hunter lifting him up and pressing him into a wall in the living room, and they greedily took each other in like they’d been parched forever. 

“I can’t let you get hurt,” Leopold said, laying in Hunter’s arms against the dining room floor, tucked under his arm right where he belonged.

“I know.”

They were silent, and Hunter lifted Leopold’s hand to his mouth, kissing his knuckles and each fingertip and over his palm.

“I’ll have my stuff out by morning.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know. You always said we shouldn’t do this. You were always right, and I shouldn’t have tried to fight that. I guess we just weren’t meant to be.”

Leopold went to bed for the first time alone in over a year, trying to ignore the sounds of Hunter packing, and when the door closed before dawn behind him, Leopold did something he hadn’t thought possible anymore. He cried for everything that went with Hunter, all of the goodness he’d kindled in himself despite Ophelia and his father. He cried, and mourned, and in the morning, he put on his tie, and assumed his role of the Doctor, and forgot how to take it off. 


End file.
